Aspiring actors: remember nothing is sure until the contracts are signed.

Now having laid my disclaimer - Has Conan scored another major win? Of course I have or I'd have nothing to write about.

What is it? Well until the contracts are done I will not say but I think it is what would be termed a leading role in a decent budget movie that is (again) highly suitablefor me - funny how I tend to target these movies/roles exclusively isn't it?

For now I'll say I've flown to another country, have had meetings and everyone, especially me, seems very pleased and things are moving ahead.

I finished filming on Spartacus Season 02 today (hopefully - waiting for the rushes to be checked) and I have to say this is going to be an awesome piece of footage. The other actors I worked with were great upcoming stars, the stuntmen easy going, the Directors very approachable and helped me be my best. My makeup artist went beyond the call of duty, the Producers looked after my ridiculous dietary requirements, AD's were so helpful, as were catering and the Doof Doof boys. In fact everyone made my work very enjoyable and hassle free.

Fantastic. It was such a pleasure working as part of the team all pulling in the same direction....

I can now formally announce that I have signed with the Starz TV series SPARTACUS. As such I am now again in New Zealand preparing for my role during The Hobbit hiatus.

As a bonus today I recieved the six episodes of the prequel season of Spartacus - Gods Of The Arena to watch as background information. Not being a big watcher of TV personally, and not having access to the program at home in Asia this is the first I have seen of the series. (Season 02 was delayed and a prequel made in it's stead. So even though this is Season 02 it is the 3rd season of the series that has been made).

And I must say that I am impressed. I have watched episodes 01 to 04 straight with only breaks to cook food, and by the looks of it I will watch the entire season in one sitting - a very rare occurance, even for professional reasons.

Spartacus itself is another "jewel in the crown" of my credit list so to speak, in the last year now that is "Game Of Thrones", "The Hobbit" and now "Spartacus" - all pretty reputable Western credits that add considerable weight to my existing list....

Well that says just about all I can say at the moment, you'll just have to wait until I get the go ahead from the publicity departmentto get anymore info.

I think I can safely say that I am very happy to have passed a 'proper' acting audition again, this one with a extra difficulty twist and a short preparation time, and did not just get the role based on my stunt abilities or my physique.

*Update: Between initial casting and final edit my character was renamed BOLG, who in the Tolkein book is the son of Azog.

I am to play Azog in Peter Jacksons Lord Of The Rings (LOTR) two part prequel "The Hobbit" based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Movie Legend Peter Jackson And Wannabe Legend Conan Stevens

Since I am under a strict NDA I cannot discuss "The Hobbit" or Azog so you won't be getting any inside behind the scenes stuff, Peter does that anyway, but you will get a lot of inside info on how an actor feels after 24 years of struggle and now working in a major "Hollywood" movie... wait should that be THE major Hollywood movie this year.... in fact wouldn't this possibly be the biggest movie since..... well since ... Lord Of The Rings?

Slowly, slowly, ever so slowly each day creeps by at the moment.... It's like Christmas is coming... but way better.

Tonight, in fact in a few hours I make my appearance on Game of Thrones as Ser Gregor Cleganeand I spit on your fan mourned dire wolf death last episode. The Mountain will outclass that.

More importantly this site is about to be hit by a ton of HBO audience who have never heard of me before when I burst upon their screens and the audience screams in unison who was that bastard?

Ignoring Gregor for a minute you can find out who the handsome devil behind the cruel bastard is with not one, not two but FOUR interviews all appropriately timed, imagine that, for my appearance on HBO.

True Legend, the Chinese Wuxia movie directed by action choreography legend Yuen Woo Ping, that had Asian cinema release in Feb 2010 finally is coming out in the West.

And much to my pleasure it will be cinema release, this is brilliant for me. First I thought it had taken so long that it was going to be a straight to DVD release, secondly the timing is exceptionally good, thirdly getting my face on screen for a significant amount of time beating the life out of several Chinese TV/movie stars isn't a bad thing. This all makes the credit much more valuable as more people will know it if it gets the cinema release over just Martial Arts fans knowing it (ie very few people in Hollywood studios).

Ahhh... that I cannot say, it's a secret and I have been told to keep it as such. It's a lot different working in the big world rather than at your local language studios to whom the English language markets are usually a secondary after production thought.

IF things work out the way I would like then this is going to mean a big change to my life.

I think I would be safe to say that for my goals this would be a.... no I'll save it for later.

Just recently a good friend suggested that I put a deadline on my acting career, a cut off date where if I had not made it by then that I should give it up and go back to Australia to build my future the traditional way of swapping hours for money in what some people call a real job.

Funnily enough a mutual friend of both of us called last month and said to me, when I was a feeling down, "Look how far you have come in the last 5 years - Imagine where you will be in 5 years time."

Or should I follow some previous advice and get the heck out of the third world?

All very good sets of advice so which do I take? Which would you take?

That depends upon where you would believe your career is at. Here's what I am doing....